


you had one job

by mxlorierie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: HEA, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Irondad angst, Panic Attacks, Redemption, Sad Tony, SpiderKid, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, aka why he said yes to the time heist, and it cuts to the scene where he agrees with the time heist, fuck you Thanos, he misses his kid, i mean you had a point but cmon man, imagine the avengers theme song play at the end, lets go time heist, no beta we die like men, peter is dead rn, post IW, sort of HEA, survivor's guilt, tony's thought process after saying no to the time heist, what wouldnt he do for peter, yay basic tags out of the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24772450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxlorierie/pseuds/mxlorierie
Summary: Tony liked to simplify how he looked at things; it made everything a to easier to deal with.protect Pepper, protect Morgan, protect Peter.It was all simple, really.which only made it harder to accept when he failed.or:in which Tony Stark realizes how far he's willing to go for the people he loves.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Kudos: 17





	you had one job

**"All you had to do was save him."**

* * *

_All you had to do was save him._

_Yet you did nothing._

Tony Stark woke up with a start, clutching his chest. His lungs stretching for every breath, his body hyper-aware of the cold sweat covering itself despite the cool temperature of the night. At least— he assumed it was night? _Grounding, Stark._ Tony made an attempt to alleviate his breathing and take in his surroundings. The genius billionaire forced himself to remember that he was no longer on Titan, and that the dreaded fight had taken place years ago. Tony looked around and focused on the somewhat familiar view of his room in their family cabin. He could both feel and hear the creak of the hardwood floor when he reached towards the bedside drawer. When he tried to check the time on his phone, Tony immediately realized his mistake.

_You couldn't save him._

Right next to his phone was the framed version of that photo of him and Peter. Spiderkid was holding his Stark internships certificate while Stark posed next to him acting all— well— Stark-ish. It's obvious that Tony wanted to try and look cool since it was _his_ company the genius spiderling was interning at, but it's clear in his eyes that even the big-man Iron Man was brought along by the kid's ecstatic demeanor and smile. That darn photo was Tony's favorite by far. It was that photo that marked the day he was finally starting to accept that the kid meant more to me than he originally thought he would.

In that photo, everything was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

It was not okay.

Tony tried to reach out for the fragments of his previous nightmare. Unfortunately, it came to him easier than typical nightmares usually do.

_Probably because it was a memory, not a nightmare._

Throughout his life, all Stark had ever wanted was to keep the people he cared about safe. He acts like such a big-time guy, but really? He's still that man who wants nothing more than to be able to protect the people he loves. It gets rather difficult to do that when there are more people involved, so it's not like he wanted to get close to the kid and add to the list. Yet... underoos grew on him. He knew that Peter was like a younger, nicer, _much nicer,_ and better version of himself. The kid had always called Tony his hero, but he never seemed to realize that _he_ was Stark's superhero. 

Look where that got them now.

Tony's mind flashes back to the memory. He's kneeling on Titan, just barely holding on to his own consciousness. Then _he_ does it. He does what he vowed to achieve all this time. And just in the snap of Thanos's fingers, half of the universe disappeared.

But he took all of Tony's.

The violet titan continued his ever ass-cracking monologue about achieving universal equilibrium. At this point? No one gave a shit. Not the other guardians, not anyone else on Titan. Definitely not Tony. He took a look around himself to try and piece together what was actually happening. One by one, he watched as his team members fell. His mind was having enough difficulty coping with what his eyes were telling me... when Tony heard a painfully familiar call of his name.

_"Mr. Stark?"_

Tony didn't want to turn around-- He just couldn't. Despite this, his body moved before he could think. The next thing Tony knew, he was holding Peter in his damaged, half-suit, half-flesh arms. More accurately, Peter fell into his arms. He looked so small in that moment. Just like a _boy_. A shaking, apologizing boy. A very young teenager, and a simple kid who doesn't deserve any of this. A dissolving kid.

_His kid._

Tony's mind could barely comprehend what was happening, but he was quickly brought back to reality when Peter called out his name once more.

_"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark. I'm so, so sorry."_

In a normal situation, Stark would have immediately told the kid to shut up. For obvious reasons... this time, he just didn't have the heart to do it. He didn't even have the heart to tell the spiderling that he loved him as if he were my own kid. Despite having him literally turn to ashes in his arms, Tony just couldn't find the strength, nor the words. He didn't even know if he would ever have the chance to tell Peter how important he was ever again, but he couldn't seem to get the words out— as if he had forgotten how to speak. In an attempt to seem like he had his shit together, Tony tried to comfort his kid. He ruffled Peter's brown hair the same way he always did. He told him that it was alright— he did his best. That he was a hero.

_That he was Tony's hero._

He tried. He really did. He tried to form the words a parent would— should say to their child. Words that Tony had never heard from his own parents in his life. But before anything could come out, all that was left in his hands was dust. Suddenly, the world felt like it was going by both too fast and too slow. In the snap of a finger, this random planet in outer space felt colder than it was before. It didn't matter now. Nothing did. Thanos won, and…

_They lost._

_And Tony couldn't save him._

* * *

"Sir, your heart rate is increasing and you are showing signs of an oncoming panic attack. I recommend you to do your breathing exercises. Shall I call Ms. Potts?" FRIDAY cuts through Tony's not-so-pleasant stumble down memory lane. The distressed man didn't even realize he could feel his own heartbeat resonating throughout his body, despite sitting still on the bed. "No, no…" Tony rejected FRIDAY's offer of calling Pepper, while still trying to catch his breath. With his hands in his dark and messy hair, Tony tried to think— what did Harley tell him when he helped him through this last time? Shit— Harley— Tony froze when he finally realized that he didn't even know if _he_ was still alive, or if was also just... another pile of dust. 

_Another person He wasn't able to protect._

No matter what Tony tried to do, he couldn't get the image out of his head. His team scattered across the damned plains on Titan, holding what was left of their comrades in their hands, as Tony held what was left of his son in his own hands.

_All you had to do was save him._

But he couldn't. That was something that Tony Stark had to bring with himself for the rest of his life. Tony's hands were even colder and sweatier than they were earlier. Regardless of how he tried to wipe them, the liquid form of his panic, guilt, and regret remained on his palms.

Tony's head snapped to look at the door when he heard a small, but sudden knock on his door. The knock brought Tony, thankfully, out of his spiral. Morgan slowly opened the door and peeked through before walking in. Despite feeling like absolute horse shit, Tony swung his legs over the edge of the bed and held his arms out for the wonderful daughter of his. "What are you doing here, bud?" Tony asked her in the lightest tone he could manage. She hopped onto the bed and snuggled into her father's hug as he ruffled her hair.

Tony had formed a life for himself after the snap. He came home to Earth to thankfully find Pepper with the rest of the Avengers. They had all lost... so much— they _had_ to cling onto what they had left. When Tony came home, he and Pep decided that it would be for the best if they just go their separate ways from the team. They could live the peaceful life that they had always wanted but could never have. Now, well… they could. The first couple of years were difficult, needless to say. But when Morgan came into their lives… it made everything worth so much more; it was as if every single thing they did held so much _more_ meaning with Morgan in their lives. She gave Tony's life meaning after he lost it on Titan.

"Daddy not okay," Morgan mumbles into his ironman shirt. (A man needs to support himself, y'know?) She hugs Tony tightly, and he wonders-- _how did she know that?_ He just wasn't sure. What he _did_ know was that her simple presence calmed him down enough so that the "old man" could breathe. The playboy-turned-loving-father stroked his daughter's silky soft hair as she sat on his lap for a while. The simple act was able to put a small smile on Tony's face. Without realizing it, Morgan helped him remember what his nightmare-induced panic made him forget-- the reason why he had kept the photo of him and Peter next to his bed in the first place.

It was meant to be a reminder, that no matter how painful…

_He was going to get Peter back._

Tony whispered a soft "thank you" to Morgan for reminding him that the war wasn't over just yet. Strange had said that there was one possibility in which they would win this universal war against the purple shithead. If that possibility meant that they could bring everyone back... that Tony could bring his kid back…

  
  


Then he didn't care if it was a one in a million, or one in _fourteen billion_ chance.

**_He was getting his kid back._ **

Tony hugged Morgan one more time, before reminding her to return to her room. He thanked her once more for calming him down and promises to let her eat an extra cheeseburger for breakfast tomorrow. Not unlike her father, the young girl bargains with her dad and asks for ice cream as well _—_ claiming that if he didn't approve, she'll tell her mommy about his little episode just now. Not wanting that to happen _—_ while also realizing that she's a bit _too much_ like himself— Tony agreed. After he closed the door behind her, the genius billionaire philanthropist went to work immediately.

A few days ago, it was a flat "no" when Steve, Nat, and that new "time heist" guys asked Tony for help to pull off the said time heist. It was dangerous, risky, and it was easily too much unknown territory. Disrupting and moving through the time-space continuum had always been a far-away thought that people only ever saw in movies. Tony had too much to lose, after five years. If they had asked him right after the snap, he would have jumped at any opportunity to do something to set things right. Now? Tony couldn't take a chance and a risk like that. Not when he finally got the life he had always wanted for himself, Pepper, and now, little Morgan. Despite all this… Tony knew that Pepper-- as usual. She was right that Tony would never know peace. He could never gain peace in his life, knowing that he willingly gave up on half of the universe.

_That he gave up on Peter._

So, despite his previous assurance that this would fail, and fear that it wouldn't, Tony opened the holograms and began to draft a motherfucking _time machine._ It obviously took a while, considering exactly _what_ he was trying to achieve, but when the equation that would forever change science and their perspective on time popped up…Tony let himself fall onto the couch. With his eyes wide and mouth agape, he stared at the hologram-- trying to take in what he had just achieved.

So maybe the time-heist idea wasn't as far away as he had originally thought.

Considering that it was right in front of him now.

It was still a bit rough around the edges, but with some work, time, and materials… then he could actually _make_ this damn thing. It was pretty hard to believe that he actually made a fucking _time machine_ (for the lack of a better term, but basically it was a time machine), but he did promise Aunt May that he would take care of the kid. It may be a few years late, but Tony still had no plans to break that promise. No matter what he needed to do, he swore that he would protect Peter.

**Whatever it takes.**

Because like **hell** Tony Motherfucking Stark would willingly give up on Peter.

**Author's Note:**

> hi !! this is the first work I'm posting :]] i hope you guys enjoyed it. i really feel like tony's character and thought process had so much more potential to explore, and so I did FFJKASFJDKS i really love these two and wow I miss them a lot


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